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Re: just when things were finally starting to go well

Originally Posted by @llli*letitiachua

Hi Auderey, Phi,

Thanks for the info n advice. U r right.. It seems to be a phase. Now on 'good' days he will feed on both breasts n last abt 3-4h in the day n night. Still there r fussy days like today when he's more distracted n will only feed a little n come back in 1-2h. Less biting/pulling out too.
I hope it will continue to get better when he reaches 5mths.

4 months is a tough time for a lot of babies, and they do grow out of it. Mine was much happier at 5 months.

There may be things that you can do about the biting/pulling depending on the cause. If you think he's teething then you can give acetaminophen or ibuprofen or let him chew on a cold wash cloth before nursing.

If you have reason to suspect overactive letdown (mine was biting down to slow the flow), then you can nurse in a reclined position, take your baby off the breast at letdown and let some milk spray into a towel then return the baby to the breast, or hand express a little milk before nursing.

If he is really biting down, you can unlatch him an calmly say something like "please don't bite; it hurts" and put him down for several seconds, then return to nursing him again. This indicates that biting means you will stop nursing him. You don't want to discourage nursing, but you also don't want to encourage biting. However, teething is a very possible cause, so I might start there and see if treating the teething helps with the biting.

Re: just when things were finally starting to go well

Have you had your baby checked for a tongue tie? There isn't much rhyme or reason to it, but my situation was similar to yours. Nursing was painful at first, which I attributed to "getting used to it" (I've learned so much since then ) then seemed to get better, and almost pain free. Then it got worse again, and I was in agony every feed, and had black and blue nipples. A good IBCLC can check for a tongue tie, and most can be rectified with a quick snip from an ENT (we had to have it lasered by a dentist however, since the snip didn't quite do the trick). If that is the case, I can tell you breastfeeding is now a breeze, and a joy!! Just a thought, and something you may want to rule out! Good luck!

Re: just when things were finally starting to go well

Sorry I haven't updated cos already back to work.
I just want to thank Phi for the advice about reclined position when feeding..
So I tried that n he did seem more comfortable n less choking too.
A week after... He no longer refuse the breast!
Now my baby is almost 9 mths n still breastfed.
But i need advice about something else :-P
Will start an appropriate thread if i can't find answers from existing ones...